See information about attending the city council meeting at the bottom of this post!
Drivers in the city of San Mateo are whining about the loss of parking due to the bike lanes on Humboldt Street. At a meeting of the city council Monday evening, a discussion will take place about removing them to restore parking.
From an email blast from Peninsula safety advocate Mike Swire:
The City installed the San Mateo High Bike Lanes (on Humboldt Street), the longest in the City, in mid-2022 in order to address a rash of horrible crashes in the area. A year prior, a driver hit a 68-year-old resident who was biking on Humboldt, putting him in a coma and breaking several ribs and his collarbone. A local single mom of a special needs child was killed walking in the neighborhood recently. On Hillsdale, another pedestrian was killed in November. In addition, the North Central neighborhood has the most dangerous streets in the area. According to the County, Humboldt is part of the Youth-Based High Injury Network (p. 46) for kids walking and biking to school. More than 6,000 students attend school next to Humboldt at San Mateo High, College Park Elementary, and San Mateo Adult Schools and Turnbull Pre-School
Swire also points out the obscene timing: just two months ago, a driver killed 31-year-old Stanford scientist Andrea Vallebueno on Holly Street in San Carlos because of a city that prioritized traffic throughput over life and limb. Now, San Mateo is poised to show the same indifference to human life due to drivers complaining about lack of parking.
In his email blast, Swire also included a video montage of people who depend on the bike lanes:
The San Mateo Daily Journal did a poll about the bike lanes and found that close to 80 percent want them to stay.
More from Swire's release:
According to staff, these could cost up to $4 million at a time when the City is facing a $10 million budget deficit. This includes almost $1 million in federal grant money which may need to be returned to the Trump Administration. The City has failed to address the parking challenges in the community. The City has not launched the permit parking program that was promised, which would reduce parking abuse by non-residents, including those parking and then Uber'ing to the airport. In addition, the City has failed to coordinate with the local, state, and federal government entities that own lots in the neighborhood that remain empty at night; this could create 700+ free, additional parking spots in the neighborhood. Meanwhile, several other City projects are on hold due to lack of funding.
The city council will meet Monday/tonight Feb. 3 at City Hall in San Mateo at 7 p.m. (the meeting is also on Zoom). Supporters of the bike lanes will be out front at 6:30 p.m. for a rally.
